Whether it be a pistol, rifle, or shotgun, the legendary markswoman Annie Oakley was masterful with them all. Dubbed “Little Sure Shot” by Chief Sitting Bull (she was five feet tall), her sharp shooting in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show won her many awards and captivated audiences far and wide. Her name remains synonymous with firearms and entertainment.

    Though many young ladies may feel intimidated around their male hunting counterparts, in reality the ladies are much easier to train and pick up the shooting sports with relative ease when given the opportunity. And many of them not only enjoy shooting and hunting, most excel at it when they’re given half a chance. One only has to look at the pages of this newspaper during hunting season to view the successes of these modern day lady hunters!

    Though Little Sure Shot has been gone from the American scene for quite some time, her legacy lives on and should inspire young ladies everywhere to pick up their rifles and shotguns and head to the shooting ranges and fields, or woodlands.

Versatile Ladies

    Some youngsters like Mikayla Giles are following in her footsteps and don’t even know it. Modern day outdoors women enjoy all of the perks of being a woman and more. Think hunting’s just for men, then think again. Jenifer Flanigan is one of those lady hunters who can fish, hunt and shoot too! Yes, modern day outdoorswomen like Giles and Flanigan can don their favorite camouflage and head to the woods or dress up in their favorite outfits and hit the town!

    Mikayla Giles recently enjoyed a successful hunt near the Chunky River with her dad who picked her up as soon as school let out. Giles quickly changed into her SHE OUTDOORS APPAREL and joined her dad in the woods adjacent to the Chunky River. With the temperature falling fast and a cold front passing through, the deer were sure to move on this frigid fall afternoon.

    All was quiet for about an hour, save an occasional wood duck whistling in a nearby slough. Around 4:45 a herd of deer suddenly burst out and scattered in all directions about 140 yards distant in an opening along a wood line. Seconds later a young buck ran into the opening and stopped to feed on acorns as the does filtered back in. “He’s huge,” exclaimed the excited young hunter! And to her credit the young buck looked twice as big as any of the half dozen does in the narrow field opening.

    “Do you think we’ll see a bigger one today?” she asked. “If we shoot him we’ll never know,” I responded quickly. We weren’t trophy hunting, but this six point wasn’t what we were looking for either. A few minutes later the buck ran the does out of the field not once, not twice, but three times. Each time that he ran them out they came back in and started feeding on grass and acorns again. On the fourth trip out of the patch they all disappeared for a few minutes.

Bigger Yet

    As I spotted the young buck entering the lane again Mikayla spotted the big boy. “There’s another buck!” Seconds later he burst out of the woods with a rack much bigger than the first one. This was a shooter for sure, a mature buck worthy of harvesting. The buck took one look at the does and ran flat out towards them, scattering them in all directions again until all had disappeared. The young buck was the only one left in sight.

    Seconds later the larger racked buck started back across the opening, but he didn’t make it very far before a shot rang out. Ka-boom! sounded the 7mm08 Marlin rifle. The buck instantly collapsed in a heap before the echo of the rifle’s report had died down. Little Sure Shot had done it again with a new rifle. Two shots and two deer this year, not bad for any hunter, much less a young lady!

    With keen eyes, nerves of steel and a desire to match her intensity, Mikayla Giles is a threat to any buck that dares chase a doe by her stand. The magnificent ten point buck let down his guard while searching for a hot doe and paid the ultimate price. As a result, this young lady will have plenty of jerky, steaks and hamburger to last quite awhile! Harvesting succulent venison and making memories, it just doesn’t get much better than that!

    Contact  Mike Giles at 601-917-3898 or e-mail him at mikegiles18@comcast.net.